Drinking From My Saucer

 

 

 

Drinking from My Saucer by John Paul Moore

I thank God for the blessings
That His mercy has bestowed.
I'm drinking from the saucer
'Cause my cup has overflowed.

That’s what I was doing this last weekend as I attended a Christian Writers’ Retreat. Drinking from my saucer because my cup of blessings was running over. This has been my year for retreats since it hasn’t been but a few weeks since I came home from a writers’ retreat hosted by Books & Such Agency for its clients. That retreat was great out in California, but because I was working toward a deadline I wasn’t able to relax and enjoy quite as much. First deadline has been met. Second deadline was met last Tuesday which freed me up to enjoy these days getting to know lots of new writers. Well, not writers new to writing, but writers I hadn’t met before. Two days of great discussions and workshops about the business of writing. But some of the best parts were the late night conversations in the hotel rooms or the getting to know each other over the tables at lunch or dinner.

I’ve been writing a long time. My first book was published in the general market in 1978, but for most of that time I wouldn’t have been able to name over three other authors that I knew well enough to speak to on the street. Then I began writing inspirational fiction and that changed. Just as there is a brotherhood and sisterhood in the church, there is that feeling among Christian writers. I feel that connection with a few other writers in the general market now too. I’ve met a few people at book fairs in the last couple of years that I love sitting next to so that we can talk. This weekend that number mushroomed as I met so many new friends. Encouragement was popping up everywhere as well as great advice like being present in the moment. Rick Pitino used to say that a lot when he was coaching Kentucky. He probably still does, but I don’t hear his coach’s show now, but he called it the “precious present.” We can’t always be looking back or looking ahead. No need in robbing today’s joy with yesterday’s sorrow or tomorrow’s worries. Revel in the good things of now. And if the now is a hard time for us, give it over to the Lord.

But my “precious present” this weekend was good. It was a blessing. Such a blessing that my cup is running over and I’m drinking from the saucer. The above quote is one verse of a poem written by John Paul Moore some years ago and was then turned into a song. Great words to the entire poem. But I’ve also heard some people say that if you’re drinking from the saucer because your cup is overflowing, maybe it’s time you shared some of the goodness from your cup with others. The writers at the retreat were doing that as we shared with one another and tried to keep everybody’s cups overflowing with encouragement, wisdom and inspiration.

Hope your cups are overflowing with joy too so that you can drink from your saucers.



A Week of Encouragement

Lynwood Montell & Ann at a Gathering of Authors

"There is nothing better than the encouragement of a good friend." (Katharine Butler Hathaway)

It's not been my easiest summer with Mom needing so much extra care and with that deadline I had to chase with the Shaker book I was writing that didn't seem to want to end. I did find those elusive words "the end," and The Gifted turned out to be the story I was wanting to tell. Things are still not easy as we try to arrange schedules so someone can be with Mom all the time, but we're getting it done.

But with so many things going one, it can be easy to get discouraged. I am too blessed to ever have reason to be discouraged, but that doesn't mean I don't get a little down in the dumps on occasion. Sometimes it seems I should be doing better or getting more done or something. I think I ought to be superwoman every day instead of just now and again. And the truth is, I lost my superwoman cape some years back.

Ah, but then there will be a day when good news comes knocking on your e-mail door. Nothing major. No fantastic new contracts or best-seller lists. But little things. A favorable comment from an editor. A bit of praise. A writer friend spotting a stack of my books in an airport book store in California. Lunch with a couple of writing buddies. Friends reading my newsletter. Other friends leaving comments here on my blog to let me know they're reading my books. A few hugs from my writing friends at a Gathering of Authors on Saturday.

William Lynwood Montell even took his picture with me. Lynwood is at every book event in Kentucky and he's always smiling and he always has a new book. He's a storyteller. The last few years he's been collecting stories about various professions and compiling them into wonderful books. He tells stories about doctors, lawyers, one-room school teachers, and even funeral homes, not to mention ghosts, and that's only some of the subjects he's shared in his books. But the very best thing about Lynwood is how he encourages other writers. Of course he called me "Lucille" all day, but he was smiling the whole time. I think I may try that the next time I can't remember somebody's name. You see I thought he was joking, but then who knows? Maybe not.

Next week I may not get those encouraging words. Maybe it will be my time to share encouraging words instead of receive them. To pass along the good feel of encouragement. I may have that opportunity Monday morning when I do a short interview on WBCL Radio at 10:39 with Lynne Ford. She's going to ask me about Angel Sister.  One thing sure about that story and all my stories is that I want the storylines to be an encouragement to those who read them. I want people to see my characters overcoming problems with faith and love the way my Merritt family did in Angel Sister. 

I hope you will be encouraged in whatever you are doing this week and that someone will give you the gift of a word of encouragement. Thanks for reading!

Be Encouraged

"Correction does much, but encouragement does more." Johann Wolfgang von Goethe

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See this tree out on that rocky point. The lone cypress is one of the highlights on the 17 Mile Drive along the coastline between Monterey and Carmel. The brochure stated that the tree had survived on that open rocky point for over 250 years in spite of the storms that blew in off the ocean and the winds that tossed waves up on the rocks. Because it's become admired for its lone stand, a stone wall was built around its trunk to protect it from the sea. People are ready to do whatever they can to help it continue to cling to its lonely and at times harsh outpost. That's so we can stop on our drive, take pictures and be encouraged by the sight of one tree keeping its lone vigil.

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Be encouraged - that was the theme of Kyle Duncan's talk to us at the Books & Such Writers Retreat I attended last week in California. Kyle is an executive editor at Bethany House and is as friendly and approachable as his wonderful smile suggests. Actually his talk was titled "Five Things Your Editor Won't Tell You," but when he told us to be encouraged, that's when I sat up and paid notice.

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Everybody needs encouragement in his or her life. Especially writers. Sometimes we're like that lonely cypress tree out there on the point all by ourselves being buffeted by the winds of criticism and the waves of change in the publishing industry. We sit in front of our computers and write our stories and hope we'll be able to hang on in the face of whatever storms come our way. Perhaps personal storms that steal our writing time. Or professional storms that set our stories adrift in a sea of no interest. Or emotional storms of discouragement.

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I've been keeping a writing journal ever since I started writing seriously for publication. It's my way of having a record of what I've written and when I wrote it. I celebrate my writing victories there, but it's also the place I write about my frustrations and disappointments. I can open those notebooks up to some years and see some storm of rejections or dismay on most any page. I'll prove it. I'm opening a book at random. On a Tuesday in 1997 this is a bit of what I wrote in my journal. "I've been putting off writing here because things are so flat, so depressing. I got a rejection on Freaks finally - only took them 9 months this time....I'm so low I could crawl under a snake." Yikes, that sounds awful, doesn't it? But even when I was lowest I always tried to end my journal entry with a positive thought. That entry ends with "Courage! Willpower! Discipline!" Sometimes you have to be your own cheerleader, your own encourager.

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So it was good to hear Kyle tell us writers to be encouraged. The book industry is still looking for great books. Readers are still looking for books to entertain and enlighten them. Writers are still clinging to their lonely outposts and hoping that the words they're writing will find some sunshine and sparkle as their new stories sail out to readers. Sometimes those writers gather together together in a beautiful place to hear words of encouragement. Sometimes those writers have to chase after their own encouragement.

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May you be encouraged in whatever dream you're chasing this week. I'll leave you with another quote I came across "I am not afraid of tomorrow for I have seen yesterday and I love today." William Allen White.

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What encourages you?